Straight Shooting: TERRORIZER’s World Downfall is the Holy Grail of Grindcore

Sometimes being the first band to do something doesn’t necessarily guarantee that first always means best – case in point, TERRORIZER‘s 1989 debut, World Downfall. Sure, one can point to NAPALM DEATH‘s Scum as the birth of grindcore but let’s be honest, the album isn’t very listenable.

Simply put TERRORIZER‘s World Downfall is absolute perfection.

The influence of the legendary World Downfall can be heard in virtually every grindcore, death metal, or extreme metal album that came afterwards. Often times, you can put on an album by a band that came afterwards and hear direct ripoffs. The generations of bands that this record has directly or indirectly influenced is readily apparent in everything from the vocals, riffs, drumming, song structures, and style. Just take the drumming for example. Who in the world was drumming with these kinds of archetypal fills, blast beats, sped up d-beats, and with this kind of complete mastery in 1989 other than Pete Sandoval?

Let us enjoy some selections:

“After World Obliteration“:

“Fear of Napalm“:

“Dead Shall Rise“:

What happens when you gather together a young and hungry Pete Sandoval, David Vincent, Jesse Pintado, and Oscar Garcia? Perfection.